Producer Willner Dynamites Walls That Separate Musical Genres

Willner Makes Musical Nightmares You'll Want To Hear

October 25, 1992|By ROGER CATLIN; Courant Rock Critic

NEW YORK — Jazz purists may well snub Hal Willner's wide-open celebrations of 20th century music giants.

His most recent opus, for example, "Hal Willner Presents Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus" (Columbia Records), includes contributions from artists as far afield as Elvis Costello, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Vernon Reid of Living Colour, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones, Robbie Robertson, performance artist Diamanda Galas, punk veteran Henry Rollins and Leonard Cohen. There's even Ray Davies of the Kinks, who can be heard humming on one of the tracks as Davies was filming most of the sessions for a work that also concerns Charles Mingus, the virtuoso American acoustic bassist and composer.

It's not all a pop crowd, of course. Jazz fans might be relieved to find, at this seemingly raucous gathering, such names as Henry Threadgill, Geri Allen, Don Byron, Art Baron and percussionist Don Alias (who has been down this road before, appearing on Joni Mitchell's previous pop salute, "Mingus").

But Willner's collection, like his previous salutes to composers Nino Rota, Thelonious Monk, Kurt Weill and the songwriters in the stable of Walt Disney, stands on its own with an eerie, otherworldly sound, especially on "Weird Nightmare," because of the use of bizarre percussion instruments from obscure American composer Harry Partch.

Still, Willner says over a breakfast of eggs at a Soho diner, "I think it's more a pop record than a jazz record. I mean, there's only two tracks commercial jazz radio would play that I can think of."

Such is their loss. Since he first started combining artists in an innovative way on thematic albums with his "Amarcord Nino Rota" in 1981 (recently rereleased on Rykodisc), he's become famous for knocking down artificial barriers between musical genres.

"I got the idea of doing the Monk album out of frustration for the Monk tributes I was seeing," said Willner, a soft-spoken,

roundfaced man with bushy hair gathered at the nape of his neck in a ponytail. "To me, if I was going to do a Monk tribute album, the first call I'd make would be to NRBQ. They're the biggest Monk fans in the world!"

And so he did. The resulting Monk tribute in 1984, "That's the Way I Feel Now," a double album on A&M Records, featured NRBQ as well as Joe Jackson, Donald Fagen, Todd Rundgren and Was (Not Was) amid such jazz names as the Carla Bley Band, Gil Evans and Bobby McFerrin.

The idea to blend pop and jazz figures was never strange to Willner, who listened to both as he grew up in Philadelphia.

"Those were the days when Firesign Theater was in the Top 10," he says. "You had the Beatles doing the `White Album.' You had Zappa. I mean, I was exposed to jazz through listening to Captain Beefheart."

Willner, 36, moved to New York to attend New York University in 1974. Seeking any job in music or films, he became an assistant to Joel Dorn, who had produced such artists as Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Roberta Flack, Bette Midler and Leon Redbone.

Dorn was one of the old school of producers who would do everything from selecting songs to hiring musicians to arranging music, and Willner was impressed. "I knew I wanted to be a staff producer," he says. "But that era was slowly ending."

Left to his own devices, "I decided to make records I wanted to make. I was always a Rota fan," he says of the composer of so many Federico Fellini soundtracks. "I played them all the time. Whenever you put those things on, it changed the vibe of the room."

That multi-artist approach was so successful, he was encouraged to continue similar projects.

Although his albums have never been at the top of the charts, they have had some strong influence in the music industry. Sting's first recording of Kurt Weill's original "Mack the Knife" on Willner's "Lost in the Stars" (1985) led to the rock star's role in "The Threepenny Opera" on Broadway. Bonnie Raitt's recording of an elephant love song from "Dumbo" on "Stay Awake" (1988) first paired her with Don Was, who would revive her career with "Nick of Time."

Willner's albums also have helped introduce two influential New York musicians and producers: Bill Frisell, whose first recorded appearance came on a Willner album, and John Zorn, who was given his first session on a major label.

"Great things happened. Certain artists are premiered," he says. "But that's the way we work. You take so many chances and just go with instinct."

Willner's more conventional one-artist album production has included striking work by beat writers Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs as well as albums by Marianne Faithfull and David Sanborn.